


I'll Be Home For Christmas

by FabulousHasi



Category: League of Legends RPF
Genre: Baking, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Cottagecore, Decorating, G2 OT4, Group Vacation, M/M, Multi, Slice of Life, kind of, shameless fluff, the slightest taste of angst, yes i said ot4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:14:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28286067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FabulousHasi/pseuds/FabulousHasi
Summary: Taking eight other people (namely the rest of Fnatic and G2) with them to Switzerland doesn’t sound like the cozy trip with Rasmus that Martin had envisioned - but in the end, it might turn out better than he fears, and be a worthy conclusion to their year together.
Relationships: G2 Esports Ensemble/G2 Esports Ensemble, Martin "Rekkles" Larsson/Rasmus "Caps" Winther, Oskar "Selfmade" Boderek/Tim "Nemesis" Lipovšek, Zdravets "Hylissang" Galabov/Gabriël "Bwipo" Rauh
Comments: 3
Kudos: 26
Collections: DreamServer 2020 Advent Event





	I'll Be Home For Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! 
> 
> Welcome to the last day of the DreamServer Advent Calendar (is it really all over already?)
> 
> Please, leave your disbelief at the doorstep, you can pick it back up again after this fic ;)
> 
> A big big thank you to the lovely Piper_Ronnie, who not only beta-read this fic, but also came up with the title, as I couldn't think of something to save my life!
> 
> Anyway - Merry Christmas everyone!

It’s on Rasmus‘ last day in Sweden that Martin decides to bring up Christmas with him.

They’re lying in Martin’s bed in his brand new apartment, Martin slowly stroking Rasmus‘ hair, just basking in the quiet after the craziness that were the last few days.

Martin has just signed with G2, and that is also the reason why Rasmus is there with him – moral support for the most difficult offseason he ever lived through.

But now it’s done, and, as Martin feels the pressure and stress fall off him while they’re lying there, he feels his mind starting to wander to the future, and to something that he’s known for a while now – and what better time to bring it up than now?

And so, he mentions that he would like to spend Christmas with Rasmus. That he would like to take him somewhere far away, where both of their families and their stupid divorce problems and new step-parents and nosy friends can’t get to them. Somewhere in the mountains maybe, where it would have the snow that they’re both so desperately missing after spending the year in Berlin – and having no luck with it in Sweden either.

Rasmus angles his head upwards as soon as he says it and gives Martin the biggest grin.

„That sounds amazing,“ he says, and his laugh vibrates in Martin’s chest. „Not away from all of my family though.“

It takes a lot of pleading and convincing from Rasmus before Martin agrees, because the prospect is so scary to him. Taking eight other people with them to Switzerland doesn’t sound like the cozy trip he had envisioned, but Rasmus doesn’t let up, and, at some point, Martin finally has to agree that he is right.

There is so much that will change after this season, so many long-lasting relationships that won’t be there any longer, and it doesn’t feel right to just let that happen without a goodbye.

He is still nervous about it, because he doesn’t really know them all that well yet, but Rasmus insists that this is the perfect opportunity to change that. And, for fairness reasons, as Rasmus calls it, or as a farewell, as Martin calls it in his head, they invite the rest of Fnatic’s 2020 roster as well.

It doesn’t take as much convincing as he would have thought – for one reason or another, they all seem to be happy about the opportunity to spend the holiday together.

And so, barely a month later, Martin finds himself driving up to a cottage somewhere in the Swiss mountains with all of G2 and Fnatic.

The woman that hands them the keys is quite clearly taken aback that the ten people rented her cottage with five couple’s bedrooms are exclusively men in their twenties, but she regains her professionalism soon enough, and shows them around the house.

Martin was originally a bit nervous about the cottage he chose, but it turns out fine, as the others are convinced by it on their way through the bedrooms already. It is beautiful, with the many windows that let in lots of natural light and a view of the snow-covered woods surrounding the house on three sides, the modern but comfortable furniture, and the light wood accents everywhere.

But it’s the living area that makes them all fall in love fully. It is one giant open space with an archway on the right that leads into the kitchen, a dining table next to it, and, lining the wall next to that, a piano, and a ceiling-high shelf full of board games and an impressive DVD-collection. Then, opposite the door they’re standing in, is a fireplace, that sticks out through its old-fashioned design, but somehow still seems to be right where it belongs.

On the left side is a pool table and a giant couch that could probably fit all of them, but that is not the real kicker.

The whole left wall of the room is made of glass, and through that, they have the most beautiful view of the surrounding mountains in the light of the now quickly dwindling sun. The snow is glistening on the mountain tops and in the valleys, the lights of the few small villages are twinkling, and Martin’s breath hitches in his throat at so much beauty all at once. He looks around to see the same wonder in everyone else’s eyes, and his hand almost automatically finds Rasmus‘ and squeezes it. The landlady smiles at them all standing there like idiots, looking equal parts amused and satisfied with herself.

„This always gets them,“ she says with a heavy Swiss accent, and Martin just nods, because yeah, how could it not?

She goes on to show Martin the basement, which has a gym and a storage room full of random Christmas decorations, skiing equipment, and an axe, which she says they can use to fell themselves a tree in the woods behind the house if they want that. And then she leaves, and they’re alone, and their vacations starts.

It is undeniably a bit awkward, the first few days.

Martin doesn’t know how to behave around his former teammates, each of whom have taken the news of him leaving very differently, or around his future teammates, who he desperately wants make a good impression on. He especially doesn’t know how to behave around Luka, who mostly gives him the cold shoulder, and Martin feels like he constantly has to walk on eggshells in the house.

He isn’t the only one that is a bit apprehensive though, as there is still tension between Tim and Gabriël, over all the weird and hurtful things the latter had said publicly – tension that also carries over to Zdravets and Oskar.

But the air between the other four G2 members is also tainted, and not nearly as harmonious and loving as Martin remembers it to be.

Rasmus tells him that they had an argument, but only shrugs when Martin asks further, and says that he doesn’t know anything either. But if they’re honest, they can both guess that the disagreement was about the relationship that the other four share. About how it should continue – or if it even can without Luka.

Martin has never had more than one boyfriend, so he can’t imagine how hard and incredibly complicated it has to be when one of the pieces of a relationship like this breaks away – how to deal with it when it’s the person that brought them all together, as well. And, from the looks of it, G2 don’t know how to deal with it either.

To be honest, Martin is already worried that the whole trip will be a disaster, and that the relationship drama that he would have had to deal with at home would have been a lot less painful than this.

He rants to Rasmus about all of his worries while they are on a walk through the snow-covered woods behind the house. Rasmus just smiles and hugs him and tells him it will all be okay, and Martin wonders when the hell he became the calmer one of them. Is it Martin freaking out? Or is it Rasmus growing up? Somehow, both thoughts are scary and comforting in their own way.

He does feel better when they return, enough so to not resist when Zdravets insists on making them both hot chocolate to warm them back up again, and then they sit in the kitchen with Gabriël and just talk. About how Zdravets and Gabriël are going to move into an apartment together for the 2021 season, and how both of their brothers and parents are doing, and how they’re thinking about visiting the part of Gabriël’s family that lives in Brazil at some point next year, if the situation allows it. It almost feels like they’re hanging out over lunch back at the Fnatic office again.

Martin isn’t exactly remorseful at that thought – not even nostalgic, really. He’s mostly glad that that atmosphere isn’t completely lost, as he had feared so much and that maybe, it won’t be as impossible to stay friends with former teammates as he had thought for such a long time now. He does notice how Rasmus‘ grin is a little more smug for the rest of the day, but honestly, he can live with that.

Later that night, Oskar and Marcin decide that they should all play a polish drinking game together. (One that no one else has ever heard of before, and they’re not sure if the two junglers didn’t just make it up on the fly). It doesn’t take long and Rasmus and Tim are shitfaced drunk, as they are both terrible lightweights and can’t lie to save their lives, which makes the game that Oskar and Marcin devised a really difficult affair for them.

Soon, Rasmus keeps nodding off on Martin‘s shoulder. Martin laughs softly and asks Rasmus if he’s tired, but Rasmus only whispers the smallest „I love you“ back, so Martin combs the hair out of his face and carefully carries him to their room.

When he comes back, he finds that the game has dissolved into multiple small conversations. Tim and Gabriël are sitting on the ledge of the fireplace and for once Tim is the one talking without end and Gabriël just sits there silently. Martin smiles and hopes that they can figure it out for both of their sakes.

On the couch next to the fireplace are Oskar and Zdravets, who looks like the bad part of drinking is catching up with him early, judging by his grey color and pained expression. Oskar is talking to him though, and his voice is softer than Martin has ever heard before.

Still sitting around the table are the four remaining G2 members – ah, but he should really stop thinking of them as that – absorbed in a hushed discussion. Martin only catches snippets of sentences, but those make him not want to hear more. They’re talking about him, and Rasmus, and about Luka leaving and everything else that he’s afraid of. He’s about to storm out of the room and hide with Rasmus like he’s been doing for the past days when the other Martin of all people notices him hovering in the door and waves for him to join them. Martin hesitates, as the others turn around to him, but then Marcin literally gets up and drags him to the empty chair next to him, and it is settled.

He doesn’t remember what they talked about that night when he wakes up the next morning. He just knows that Mihael and Luka are suddenly best friends with him, chattering happily with him about everything and nothing while they’re making breakfast. Martin smiles and doesn’t say anything - he’s just happy to have passed the test, honestly.

From then on, it gets easier.

Martin startles from his sleep every morning, as Marcin starts yelling down the hall at eight for people to join him in the gym, earning him sleepy laughs from Rasmus.

„Go, or he’ll never stop screaming,“ he then mumbles and weakly pushes at Martin to get out of bed. Martin sighs, gives Rasmus a kiss on the forehead and leaves the lovely cozy warmth of the sheets to get to the house‘s small gym in the basement. But when Rasmus explains that this is how Marcin (and the other Martin, who sometimes comes along with them, which tends to result in really awkward third-wheeling situations for Martin) show that they accept him as part of the family that somehow makes it a bit easier to get up with the grating sound of Marcin’s voice.

Mihael sometimes plays the piano in the living room now, and, with a house as full as theirs, there’s always someone sitting on the couch or the dinner table, listening to the simple but beautiful songs with closed eyes and a smile on their lips. He tries to teach some of them, but it doesn’t really go that well most of the time. They laughingly blame it on Oskar’s temperament („Do we have any drums for him to try by any chance?“), and Marcin’s age („I get that it’s really hard to play when your fingers are stiff from arthritis, man.“), and Rasmus‘ impatience („Maybe he would do better if he could play two pianos at once, he seems bored.“). But then Luka slips onto the bench next to Mihael, and they grin at each other, and start to play something together, four hands flying over the keys. The laughter dies down, as they start weaving a blanket of sound into the air, building a beautiful melody that make Martin’s heart ache in the most perfect way possible.

The song ends and there is a small moment of silence, where Martin feels nothing but nostalgia for something he never experienced, that weird mix of sadness and happiness. Then the other Martin scoffs, and playfully shoves Luka.

„Show-off,“ he mumbles, but his hand lingers on Luka’s shoulder. Luka leans into the touch, and just as Martin starts to feel like he’s intruding, Gabriël breaks the silence in the room.

„Well, it’s a good thing we didn’t take Elias with us. He can’t stand pianos.“

That brings the laughter back into the room and starts a long and loud discussion about what exactly Upset’s problem with pianos is.

On the next day, Marcin makes it his mission to teach the Fnatic boys how to cook (because the G2 boys are already a lost cause, as he complains loudly with his head turned towards the living area, where they are setting the table under lots of snickering and laughter), which goes well at first. But then Tim cuts his finger, and bleeds all over the onions, and, of course, Oskar has to abandon his carrots and fret over him, while Gabriël and Zdravets act like they’ve never cracked an egg before, smashing every egg they’re handed to pieces, and ending up with shell all over their batter – all while teasing each other over which one of them is doing worse. Meanwhile Martin is having his very own fight with the scale, which refuses to cooperate with him, until Marcin has had enough, and shoos them all out of the kitchen to finish the quiche alone.

(He doesn’t give up hope on them completely though. The next day, he recruits them to bake Christmas cookies, and that goes a lot better, which even the rest of G2 has to admit after tasting the buttery greatness that comes of it.)

And then it’s suddenly the 24th and they realize that they’re here to celebrate Christmas, but they haven’t prepared anything around the house yet. They haven’t put up any of the decorations that are in the basement of the house, or that Zdravets brought, and worst of all, they don’t have a tree. And so, Luka decides to call an emergency meeting and makes them all gather around the dinner table to distribute tasks among them.

Martin gets tasked with finding them a suitable tree (Wunder-Martin, because they all think that Rekkles-Martin does not look like he would win a fight with a tree). He rolls his eyes, but agrees, under the condition that Luka goes with him, so he also has to suffer in the cold. Zdravets also agrees to go with them, to help them pick out an acceptable tree, which everyone agrees is a task that he is the only suitable person for.

Luka, Marcin and Oskar agree that they need straw to place under the table cloth for the evening (because in their countries it’s a belief that it will bring luck to the family in the following year), so Oskar drags a complaining Tim along to take a walk down into the small village to see if anyone can help them out.

Marcin pulls out a giant shopping list of all the different ingredients he still needs for the ten different dishes he wants to make for dinner (he had bugged each of them for a recipe of a traditional dish in their country during the days before), and since Mihael has no interest in decorating anything, he reluctantly agrees to go with him. They also take Gabriël with them, to help them with carrying the mass of things Marcin wants to buy, and since his French is almost enough to form a whole sentence, which is more than anyone of the others can say.

And finally, that leaves only Martin and Rasmus for decorating the house, but it’s not like they’re going to complain about that.

They wave at the door until the last of the others have tapered off, then venture to the basement to get the decorations. It’s a little hard to stay focused because most of the decorations are truly _hideous_ , but also because they can’t stop trying to catch each other under the mistletoe they found at the bottom of one of the boxes.

For most of the time, they’re both too on guard to be caught. But then Martin is so focused on trying to loop some fairy lights around the bookshelf in a pretty way and losing his mind at the impossible task, that he only notices Rasmus when he hears a soft laugh behind him. He sighs in defeat, and looks up, where Rasmus is holding the slightly squashed mistletoe, before slowly turning around. He tries to keep a serious face, but it melts away at the absolute glee on Rasmus‘ face.

„I won!“ the other beams, and Martin wants to answer, when Rasmus pushes him to the shelf and presses a kiss on his lips, cutting him right off. It’s short and sweet, and when they both open their eyes, Rasmus bursts into giggles, and runs away like he’s a school boy that just stole his first kiss. Martin just shakes his head and goes back to fiddling with the fairy lights, which works a lot better now for some reason.

The other Martin and his two helpers are the first people that come back, a tree that is almost as tall as him in tow. It is quite beautiful though, which Luka laughingly attests fully to Zdravets – had it been Martin and him alone, they would have been back after ten minutes with the first tree they could find.

Not long after, the other two groups also come back, and that is when the real chaos begins. They start doing everything simultaneously, with everyone taking turns helping in the kitchen, decorating the tree, further decorating the house, and getting rid of some of the chaos that has accumulated over the last days, as well as trying to smuggle presents underneath the tree without anyone noticing.

The air is filled with Christmas music, sometimes over the speakers, sometimes from Mihael or Luka on the piano, and the smell of coffee, cocoa, and cinnamon. And though Marcin and Oskar tell them that Christmas day is a day of fasting, and that it is very bad luck to eat before the first star at night is visible, Rasmus decides that that rule doesn’t count for non-Poles who are not even in Poland, and so they all steal some of their handmade cookies anyway.

Occasionally, one of them goes outside to call his family (as well as LS, in Tim’s case), and though Martin’s heart aches a little when he hears his mother’s voice, right now, he is more certain than ever that this trip was the perfect choice.

The rest of the day goes by in a flash, and soon, Martin is sitting on the couch with all the others, carefully watching the sky to see when the first star would appear, because, as Marcin had said „if you want to eat some cookies before and have bad luck for a year, that’s fine, but if we start dinner too early, we will actually just fucking die.“ Oskar nods sincerely and adds something about his grandma always saying that. And since none of them want to risk dying (and since it is kind of a sweet tradition), they comply.

„United in rivalry... and star-gazing,“ the other Martin whispers as they squeeze onto the couch, and promptly catches a pillow in the face from Luka for it.

There is a lot of bickering, and dumb jokes, and tickle attacks as they wait, before Tim finally jumps up, and points at the sky. And there it is, a pale, twinkling star, and they cheer, and move to the kitchen to bring out all the different dishes (though not without joking about how unlikely it was that Tim had lifted his gaze from his Oneplus long enough to be the first to spot the star).

At first they’re all quite overwhelmed by the many different and mostly unfamiliar dishes on the table, but they quickly realize that all of them taste equally amazing, and the atmosphere returns to their jokes and bantering.

Oskar teases that he’s not surprised anymore that Martin betrayed them for G2 if Marcin can cook like that, to which Marcin answers that he’s glad to hear that because it means he still has the option to stay with G2 as their chef after Oskar replaces him next year. Luka then leans over to whisper something in his ear, which makes Marcin blush bright red and almost choke on his potatoes. The other Martin not very convertly kicks Luka under the table for it, before directing the conversation to how uncomfortable the carp looks under its bread crumb blanket.

Mihael then insists on everyone trying the Slovenian soup that they made, and when the other Martin wants to refuse at first, Mihael leans all the way over Luka and Marcin to feed him the first spoon. He can’t admit it openly, of course, but they can all see in Martin’s face that he likes it, and continue to tease him about it for the rest of the evening.

Martin notices that Rasmus grows more and more fidgety as the dinner goes on and he can’t help but grin because he knows what Rasmus is so impatient about: the presents.

And so, as soon as the last person has put the cutlery out of their hands, Rasmus jumps up, and pulls them towards the tree. The others laugh, and follow him more slowly, because they’re all too stuffed with food to run around as enthusiastically as him.

They start the gift exchange with the impersonal presents from team to team that they agreed on because they don’t know each other that well, but still wanted to give each other something.

The present from Fnatic to G2 that they (well, mostly Zdravets and Gabriël) devised is a coupon for an Escape Room with Korean barbecue afterwards. They joke that this means both G2 and C9 have to lose the Spring Split so they have time to do it between splits, when Luka is back in Europe and they don’t have to play MSI, but they still seem genuinely excited about the present.

The G2 boys on the other hand got each Fnatic member a lottery ticket, „so there’s still a chance you guys will win _something_ this year.“It’s very in character for them to still fit a jab in a Christmas present, Martin thinks, but honestly, it is kind of funny, so they don’t take it too hard.

Martin gets another present from G2 though. It’s a small box, and Martin carefully unwraps it, already a little worried by the weird facial expressions of all his new teammates. But when he sees what’s in the box, he just frowns, confused.

„A key?“

They exchange a glance when he looks up, and Marcin is the first one to explain.

„To the gaming house,“ he says solemnly, before pausing. „Well, not actually, you’ll get that from G2, obviously, this is the key to my apartment in Poland, so I would actually appreciate it if you gave it back, but yeah, it’s supposed to be...“

„It’s a symbolic present,“ the other Martin quickly cuts off Marcin’s rambling, shaking his head. Martin straightens his back, and swallows, trying to keep his face still.

„Thank you guys,“ he finally says quietly, and smiles at each one of them. Rasmus‘ hand finds his, and, once again, there is some smugness in his grin, but Martin really can’t blame him. He had really known what he was doing with this Christmas planning, and for once, Martin is oh so glad to have listened to him.

They unwrap the more personal presents simultaneously so it doesn’t take as long. Martin and Rasmus had agreed that they didn’t need anything big or expensive, so Rasmus gets a Vampire Diaries DVD collection from Martin that they can then watch together, while Martin gets a picture of them both to keep in his apartment. It’s an old photo, taken by Mads barely a month after they first got together, and Martin marvels a bit at how much they both have grown since then.

He tries not to eavesdrop on the other conversations, but he does see that Gabriël’s present for Zdravets is a picture of a cat – the one they will adopt in their new apartment, Gabriël explains – and that Luka gets a giant box with all sorts of different things from his three boyfriends.

And a few hours later, after they have thrown away the tons of wrapping paper, loaded the dishwasher, and brought all the presents to their rooms, they’re once again all sitting on the couch together. A fire is crackling in the fireplace, and on the TV there’s a show of different Disney movies that Rasmus swears everyone always watches in Denmark. The atmosphere is warm and content, and Martin’s heart feels full. He might be slightly tipsy, but it really doesn’t change the fact that it’s true –he loves them, Martin thinks, as he looks around at all of the different pairs and groups, he really does. He loves Zdravets and Gabriël, who are already dozing off on the couch together, like the ancient married couple that they are, Oskar, who is next to them, cradling Tim in his arms, Tim who stares at his phone and acts like he doesn’t hear the things Oskar is whispering to him, but Martin can see the way his cheeks redden and the way he can’t suppress a smile. Has even learned to love the four guys on his other side, that lie on the couch in one chaotic pile of arms and legs, whispering dumb jokes and cheesy love confessions to each other in equal parts.

And, of course, he loves Rasmus, who is already snoring softly in his arms, even though the show they put on has barely even started – loves him more than he has ever loved anyone else.

**Author's Note:**

> something something that goes here
> 
> And, if you'll allow me to make another self-indulgent joke:  
> selfcare isn’t always bath bombs and face masks. Sometimes selfcare is going on a trip with your boyfriend and eight other guys, and that is *valid*
> 
> If you would like to join our lovely DreamServer (so YOU can participate in amazing events like THESE as well!!) you can ask for a link in the comments :D <3


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